Pilot Convicted of Killing Wife In Wood-Chipper Murder Trial

AP

Published: November 22, 1989

NORWALK, Conn., Nov. 21—
Richard Crafts, an airline pilot from Newtown accused of killing his wife and putting parts of her body through a wood chipper, was found guilty of murder here today.

The trial took nine weeks, with 380 exhibits and 115 witnesses, but the jury took less than three days to decide that Mr. Crafts killed his wife, Helle, who has not been seen since Nov. 18, 1986.

His first trial, conducted in New London, ended in a mistrial last year after 17 days of jury deliberations when one juror refused to join the others in a guilty verdict.

Mr. Crafts, 51 years old, now faces a possible sentence of 25 to 60 years in prison. Sentencing was set for Jan. 8. 'Maintains He's Innocent'

''He does wish for us to appeal,'' said Mr. Crafts's lawyer, Gerard Smyth, who had argued that Mrs. Crafts may still be alive. ''And he still maintains he's innocent of this crime.''

The prosecution never produced a body and submitted as evidence only three-quarters of an ounce of body parts that it claimed were Mrs. Crafts's remains.

The prosecution said Mr. Crafts killed his wife in their home in Newtown, in upper Fairfield County, cut the body with a chainsaw and used a rented wood chipper to dispose of some of the pieces on a bridge between Newtown and Southbury on Nov. 20.

The evidence included bits of bone, a fingernail, hair samples and other body parts recovered from the site at River Road. Witnesses testified that they saw a man using a wood chipper on the bridge during a rainstorm on Nov. 20. Prosecutor Asserts Careful Plot

The defense argued that none of the body pieces could be identified conclusively as belong to Mrs. Crafts and that without a body the jury had to find Mr. Crafts not guilty. But the prosecutor, State's Attorney Walter Flanagan, said all the evidence put together, including the chipper and body parts, revealed a careful plot to kill Mrs. Crafts and get rid of the evidence.

He portrayed Mr. Crafts as a controlling, egotistical man who could not stand the thought that his wife wanted a divorce, and he described Mrs. Crafts as a devoted mother of three who would not simply abandon her family, as the defense had suggested.

''Unfortunately, the victim is always on trial,'' one of the jurors, John J. Shanahan of Stamford, said in the court parking lot before driving home. ''In this case, she was a very good mother, and we believe that she would not just go off and leave her three children.''

Mr. Smyth said he would appeal on grounds of jury selection and pretrial publicity, noting the widespread attention by news organizations given to the first trial, including a book that was in the bookstores before the second trial was over.

''When you take all those things together, it's difficult to say none of those things affected the outcome,'' Mr. Smyth said.

The jury had the option of convicting Mr. Crafts of first-degree manslaughter, rather than murder, if it found he acted out of extreme emotional duress.

Mr. Smyth said he would also appeal Judge Martin Nigro's decision to limit the conditions under which Mr. Crafts could have been convicted of first-degree manslaughter.

Mr. Smyth said he would recommend that Mr. Crafts receive the minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years.